For Better or Worse
by mabelreid
Summary: One shot Tag to the season finale Lindsey told Danny that one day he'd be glad she took those photos. He just didn't know it would be so soon.


**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

**_A/n here's my one shot tag to the season finale. Please enjoy. _**

Danny stood staring down at her empty crib. He couldn't stop looking at the Strawberry Shortcake sheets and pillow-covering Lindsey had bought for Lucy on her first birthday. He reached out and touched the fabric, trying to make himself believe that they were still warm, that Lindsey had just taken her into the bathroom for her bath. The sheets were stone cold, as they had been for one week, four days, three hours and twenty-nine minutes since that bastard Shane Casey had taken her away. He tried to remember what she smelled like, but it had dimmed in his head to the strength of a rose pressed between the pages of a book.

He rubbed at his shoulder. It ached from the bullet Casey had put into him. His blood still stained the floor even though crime scene cleanup had done a great job. If someone ran a fluoroscope over the floor, he or she would see where he had lain, helpless against a lunatic. He still couldn't believe Casey hadn't killed him or Lindsey.

"Danny…"

He ignored Lindsey's voice at his side as he tried to cry. It wasn't right that he couldn't shed a tear for his little Bella Lucy.

"Talk to me Danny… Please! I need you too."

She hugged him, wrapping an arm around his waist. For the first time since he had met, her, her touch didn't comfort him. He needed to see the sweet little face of his baby girl to feel like his feet touched solid reality again.

"You've been standing in here for hours. You don't eat, you don't sleep and you don't talk to me anymore. I'm suffering too Messer. I've cried till there're no tears left." Her voice took on a hard edge that grated on his ears.

He finally looked down at the woman he loved more than life, the mother of his lost child. "Don't say you know how I feel." He whispered in a hoarse voice.

"I know exactly how you feel Messer." She snapped. "I was here that night. I should've tried to stop him. I should've been faster."

Danny pulled out of her arms and went to the window. The building across the way looked cold and empty in the moonlight. All the lights in all the apartments were off, so that it looked like everyone had abandoned the city after some apocalyptic nightmare.

He couldn't think of anything to say to Lindsey to make her feel better. How could he comfort her when the only thing in his head was his failure to stop Shane Casey? He picked up Lucy's favorite toy, a white unicorn with a wispy white mane.

"Danny!"

He stroked the toy as more of Lucy's baby smell wafted up to his nose. A tear tracked slowly down his cheek as he held the toy close to his heart. Finally, the long sought tears had come, but they didn't wash away the ache in his heart. Maybe if he closed his eyes and opened them again, she'd be back in her crib waiting for a story from her mother.

"Please don't shut me out Danny." Lindsey laid her head on his arm and took hold of his trembling hand. "We promised each other for better or worse," tears choked her voice as she spoke. "I love you so much. I can't lose you too."

Tears dripped off his chin and unto the toy, he held to his heart. He realized in that moment he had never fully appreciated Lucy or the joy she brought to his life, until she was gone.

"I'm sorry…" He finally croaked to Lindsey. "I never thought I could hurt this way. No one should be able to inflict pain this way."

"We can't lose hope Danny." She squeezed his hand very hard. "I think I found something to cheer you up." She tugged on his hand.

"I can't -"

"If you don't leave this room, I'm going to call Mac." She threatened.

Despite the tears leaking slowly down his cheeks, he had to smile. "Oh don't do that Montana."

"Then come with me and have something to eat."

He let her lead him out of Lucy's room and into the living area. Candles stood on every surface, their yellow flames filled the room with soft wavering light. The round dining room table had a white table clothe and their best dishes and silverware.

"Lindsey…"

"Sit down! The pizza will be here any minute."

"Pizza!"

"Yeah… you're the one that said that's all we needed to survive and never leave this place." She wiped away the tears that streaked her cheeks and smiled at him.

"There's someone missin' He choked.

"I told you I have something for you to see. I hope it makes you feel better." She led him over to his chair and he noticed a package on his plate. She had wrapped it simply in white tissue paper with a pink ribbon on top. "Lindsey!"

"Just open it." She sat down and watched him pick it up with trembling hands.

He removed the paper and the ribbon to reveal a simple gold plated frame with a picture inside that made him flinch and sob. It was the one Lindsey had taken of him and Lucy in front of the lighthouse. He was making that stupid pouting face. Lucy had copied him and he began to laugh through his tears because of the absurdity of it all.

"I said you'd be happy that we took pictures." She smiled that wonderful smile that shot arrows into his heart every time he saw it. "Mac and Stella and everyone else are working around the clock. They're going to find Shane Casey and Lucy." She reached over for his hand. "I believe that as sure as I believe in our love. I know she's still alive, but I'm afraid."

"Don't you think I'm afraid too?" He asked, staring down at the photograph. "I'm so scared I can't see straight."

"I'm not afraid for Lucy." Lindsey said. "Or at least not just for her, she will come home to us. What scares me the most is what this will do to our family? We can't let Shane Casey rip us apart. I want my baby girl to come home to parents that stand strong together."

He stood and went to her chair. He hunkered down next to her and put his head in her lap. "I don't know how to get through the next minute. It hurts so bad."

"Hold on to me Danny…" She ran her hand through his short hair. "I'll never leave you alone."

He stayed there for a long time, relishing the feel of her hand on his head and the slow steady in and out of her breath. Finally, his legs started to get numb so he stood up, hauling her up to her feet with him. Someone knocked on the door just as he was about to kiss her. She grinned up at him smacked him on his backside and went to the door.

"Looks like the pizza is here," she said.

He went back to his chair while Lindsey dealt with the pizza deliveryman. He picked up the picture and touched Lucy's face with his forefinger. Some of the blackness on his soul fell away. This is what Shane Casey wanted from him, distracted and hopeless. Rage rose up in the place of the all-consuming pain and blunted it with its freezing cold. He could keep this rage and make it work for him. He and Lindsey would cope the only way they knew, by working the evidence to get Lucy back and make Shane Casey wish he'd never been born.


End file.
